Faith, Love and Overcoming: My Battle With Addiction

Faith, Love and Overcoming: My Battle With Addiction, Dr. Dale, American Book Publishing Group, 2001

This is the self-written story of one person's battle with addiction and recovery, starting with alcohol and continuing to prescription painkillers.

Dale (his last name is not mentioned) tells of living in a dysfunctional family in Ohio. They were the "poor" family in town. Their house didn't have indoor plumbing, and Dale slept in a crib until he was ten years old. He was one of six children, all of whose first names started with the letter D. His father was physically large, and abusive, physically and emotionally.

Despite the domestic troubles, Dale did well in high school and entered Wilmington College in Ohio with a strong interest in medicine, specifically in being an athletic trainer. Like many college freshmen, he got very involved with alcohol. He then met a woman named Michelle, with whom he became totally obsessed. She introduced him to narcotics; he spent every cent he had on her and her three kids, convinced that Michelle would marry him and they would live happily after. Michelle didn't see it that way.

Dale spent several months homeless in Cincinnati, while Michelle was seeing other people; college had long since been abandoned. After a suicide attempt, he cleaned himself up and tried school again.

Over the years, there were a couple of more attempts at medical school, which he eventually passed; he met a woman named Carla through a Quaker ministry (they have been married for 15 years, and have four daughters), and Dale discovered the "joys" of prescription painkillers, his new addiction. He also discovered a talent as a teacher in medical school, and became a very popular professor. His teaching career was halted, and he almost lost his family, because of his addiction.

For anyone who thinks that they aren't really an addict, or they can quit anytime, read this book and find out it isn't so easy. Addiction to anything isn't just a "phase" in life that one grows out of, and it can happen to anyone. This one is worth reading.